Mexican Airport Groups See Revenues Drop in 2Q20

Mexican airport groups continue grappling with the sharp reduction in demand caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, which has brought significant losses. In their second quarter report, airport groups OMA and ASUR reported sharp drops in passenger traffic and revenues.

The effects of COVID-19 became apparent since March, with airport groups beginning to see a drop in passenger traffic that only worsened as measures to stop the spread of the virus intensified. In its 1Q20 report, Grupo Aeroportuario de Sureste (ASUR) reported a 6.3 percent drop in total passenger traffic. The group, which operates nine airports in Mexico and several more in Puerto Rico and Colombia, reported at the time that the sharpest drops were felt in its Mexican market, with an 8.1 percent reduction in passenger traffic, while Puerto Rico and Colombia saw drops of 4.1 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Traffic only decreased in 2Q20. “The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the travel industry and governments have introduced travel bans and restrictions. As a result, passenger traffic in ASUR’s three countries of operations began to decline in the second half of March 2020 and continued to decline sharply across ASUR’s airport network in the subsequent months,” reported ASUR. The group indicated that in Mexico traffic decreased by 94.2 percent, Puerto Rico’s 86.1 percent and Colombia’s 99.8 percent.  

In Mexico, domestic traffic fell by 89.8 percent, while international travel by 98.5 percent. As the country has not closed borders nor restricted domestic travel, the group reports that all of its terminals are operating normally albeit it had to temporarily close two terminals in Cancun International Airport due to the reduction in traffic. The group indicates that its revenues in Mexico fell by 62.5 percent year-on-year to MX$1.04 billion (US$46.6 million).

Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA) faces a similar situation. The group, which operates 13 airports in Mexico, faced a 4.9 percent reduction in traffic during 1Q20 due to COVID-19, with domestic traffic falling by 4.7 percent and international by 5.8 percent. However, traffic fell sharply during 2Q20 to only 583,000 passengers, a 90.2 percent reduction year-on-year. The sharpest drop was again in international travel, which fell by 94.8 percent in comparison to domestic traffic’s 89.7 percent reduction. “The drop in the number of passengers is mainly due to the measures implemented as a result of the health emergency caused by COVID-19, both in Mexico and in the main international destinations of our airports, as well as to the significant reduction in the offer of seats by the airlines that operate in our airports and the lower demand for travel,” reported OMA. The reduction in passenger traffic and revenues led the group to report a 70.7 percent contraction in total revenues in 2Q20 for a total of MX$635 million (US$28.4 million).